Larry Chiang scandalously shows granular tid-bits in how to start as an entrepreneur. He edits the Bloomberg BusinessWeek channel “What They Don’t Teach You at Business School”. After Chiang’s Harvard Law keynote, Harvard Business wrote: “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“ (its the same title as his NY Times bestseller). If you read his scandalously awesome “What a Supermodel Can Teach a Stanford MBA” and “How to Get Man-Charm”, you will like his latest post:
Web 2.0 Summit 2008 Day 2 and 3 *Morsels of Wisdom*
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By Larry Chiang
I am sleep deprived and in creative mode at “Web 2.0 Summit” (as opposed to execution mode when I’m in Palo Alto). Here is what I learned at Web 2.0 Summit.
-1- New networking rules. It is who you know AND what you know. In the networked economy you can NOT fake-it-until-you-make-it. Web2.0 is about transparency. You might get your foot into the door but whether you stay is based on talent.
-2- Sweet and Sour. Question: what makes an egg roll taste oh-so, ah-so good? The sweet and sour sauce. The best food (and drink) combine both sweet and sour simultaneously.
Workplace community interaction is the same way.
Be really nice (sweet). Be really sour (mean).
For example,
*** SWEET TWEET #1 ***
@DanielBru if u were here, I’d showcase u as the emerging entrepreneurial titan u will be #web2summit
From @larryChiang
Be really sour (mean).
*** MEAN TWEET #1 ***
#web2summit Just hope google’s Matt Cutts stays in the SEO dark when people search “FreeCreditReport” Re: FTC violations
From @larryChiang
*** MEAN TWEET #2 ***
@ acEdge maybe meetings/content @ #web2summit pale in comparisson to an FTC repeat violation site; FreeCreditReport.con
From @larryChiang
-3- Fail right. Fail louldy. Fail publicly. At web2summit, I started a business charging iPhones. I charged $3 for a half charge and $5.50 for a full charge. My marketing plan was word of mouth, twitter and my personal sales effort. The AC
chargers bulging from my pocket did not hurt either.
My first customer was Dave McClure. I failed miserably because Richard, the Palace Hotel front desk manager, took the phone into lost and found. The silver lining was publicity of being most entrepreneurial at an entrepreneurial conference.
A different type of fail was by dressing really, really, badly at a conference http://m.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=3007505549
PHOTO CREDIT BRIAN SOLIS
-4- Gain a zero, lose a zero… You’re still the same guy. Elon Musk is in deep with Tesla Motors. When he was a web 2.0 summit, he was fresh and fluffy. I did not see much entrepreneurial stress there because gain or lose a zero, Elon is the same guy.
-5- BizSpark from Microsoft springboards your company with servers and stuff if you
A) are less than 3 years old
B) have less than a million in revenue
http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/bizspark
-6- Facebook is HUGE in France. Claiming you are big in Europe, is a manuever normally reserved for tier-three bands. Facebook’s stagnation in the U.S. of A. coupled with low CPMs stimulated Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, to (over) extrapolate his current 7% into a mind-blowing 20+% market penetration in France.
“We might even open up an office in France,” quipped the 23 year-old paper billionaire. Mark, they pay you to increase sales and build shareholder value versus open up sexy offices in faraway lands.
-7- Di-worse-ification is another cautionary business tale. Elon Musk is starting a car company, Tesla on top of an existing space exploration company, spaceX. Fighting a war on multiple fronts causes you to di-worse-ify yourself.
Back when Mr Musk kicked back-to-back-to-back ass, he focused on ONE thing a time in sequence without overlap. Zip2. X.com, PayPal.com.
-8- People don’t read twitter. VIPs nearly never read Twitter. I did testing with TWITTER CONTESTS using giftcards, fleece jackets and even a $100 cash prize. CONCLUSION: people do not read twitter. If they do read and reply to your twitter, tip, bribe, comp and tip them.
LINK “tip, bribe, comp and tip” to http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK1EV3HKPZ5OMJD
I said ‘tip’ twice cuz it works the best
-9- Cash isn’t king here at web 2.0. 80% of your time as an entrepreneur should be spent bringing money in the door. There has been very little time spent talking about revenue and methods to generate sales. Me and Baxter http://www.duck9.com/Baxter love liquidity Fridays
I founded http:/www.duck9.com, which educates college student on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. I testified before Congress http://www.creditcard.org/testimony.htm and World Bank in Beijing on credit http://www.ucms.com/Larry-Chiang-World-Bank-Beijing-Presentation.htm
My Amazon blog http://tinyurl.com/AmazonBlog
*** BONUS ***
a party invite for you:
http://economist.eventbrite.com/
What a Supermodel Can Teach a Harvard MBA
If you liked this…
Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983. His own book came out 09-09-09. It is called ‘What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School‘
This post was drafted in an hour and needs your edits… email me if you see a spelling or grammatical error(s)… larry@larrychiang com
Larry Chiang started his first company UCMS in college. He mimicked his mentor, Mark McCormack, founder of IMG who wrote the book, “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School”. Chiang is a keynote speaker and bestselling author and spoke at Congress and World Bank.
Text or call him during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes at 650-283-8008. Due to the volume of calls, he may place you on hold like a Scottsdale Arizona customer service rep. If you email him, be sure to include your cell number in the subject line. If you want him to email you his new articles…, ask him in an email
You can read more equally funny, but non-founder-focused-lessons on Larry’s Amazon blog .
Larry speaks on stuff they don't teach in B-school to help you get street smart in doing business. In college, he started a business that helps college students with their FICO score. He loves entrepreneurs, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and after parties. You can reach him at:
